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Pothole by Tyler, The Creator Track Review

It’s not every day you here a rap song give you good life advice about shedding those people who hold you back, listening to your parents because they only have your best interest a heart, and pushing forward to reach your dreams in life. Pothole is testament to the fact that it is possible to make positive uplifting, meaningful music without sacrificing artistry in the process. But apon first listen no one would blame you from missing these themes because of just how beautiful the track is. The chopped samples give off such a lofi 70s funk vibe that transport you into a different decade. It’s the perfect late saturday afternoon ride along song. I get lost in this song every time I hear it. The song starts of with Tyler telling us advice given to him from his mom about being careful about only trusting those who have his best interest at heart. In typical adolescent fashion, it wasn’t till later that he saw that his mom was right. This is something we can all relate to on some level. We all have people in our lives we think care about us only to show their true colors and attention later sometimes to a terrible degree. For some of us it takes learning from a bad experience before we steer ourselves back on the correct path. We then kick ourselves for not seeing the sign earlier asking ourselves “ how could I have been so blind?”. Advice given to use from the people who care about us should never be lightly.

As the song progresses Tyler goes on to mention how he goes back to help those who he left behind but they don’t seem to keen on moving forward in life and now Tyler is left with a decision on whether to stay and move forward. (Now do I stay? Do I go? ) . A choice we are all bound to face at some point in our lives. Push forward to a brighter future and leave behind the distractions or stay behind and regress, wasting your time trying to help those who can’t and don’t want to be saved. There will be people in our lives who are toxic and are only going to hold us back from what want to achieve and who we want to be in the future. Surround yourself with those who pull you forward not backward. Don’t get distracted and steer of the path to a better future for people in the past who only serve to wreck you, but at the same time for those who want the help always extend a lending hand. Jaden’s hook comes in at the perfect moment to further emphasize the first verse and the overarching theme of the song. “Watch out for the potholes”, potholes being anything that obstructs you from reaching your goals and dreams. The second verse begins with an unexpected beat change with Tyler coming back in reinvigorated to curb the haters and stay on his own path. He’s not stopping to listen to the friends who would rather waste their time talking about superficial things, or for the wishy-washy fans who are swayed in any direction by current music trends. He stays true who he is and works towards the things that will bring real meaning and accomplishment in his life but also acknowledging he’s in a good place and that it all takes patience. This verse doubles down on the idea that in order to keep on your path you have to stay true to who you are. Don’t waste your time with convenient friends with no substance, it’s better to be alone than to stay around people who have no ambition and offer you nothing of real substance. Pothole serves as wonderful message from tyler to his listeners that they should stay away from the potholes in life that will steer them off their path. Whatever pothole is holding you back from success and happiness make sure to watch out for it because it will never be worth the bright future that’s ahead of you.

Takeaway: This week, figure out at least one pothole in your life and decide whether you can fill it in or if you have to steer around it entirely.

Sidestream exists as an organization in order to merge aspects of contemporary American culture into a greater tradition of philosophy for the purpose of leading individuals to live a more meaningful life with what they experience on a daily. In other words, we're just two friends saying what we feel.